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Roller Derby Could Turn Pittsburgh Around :Original article in City Paper by MELISSA MEINZER. Every city can benefit from hot chicks in fishnets beating the snot out of each other, and Pittsburgh is no different. Following the lead of cutting-edge cities including New York, Austin, Texas, Philadelphia and St. Paul, Minn., Pittsburgh is ripe for its own roller-derby league. The Depression-era sport of roller-skate racing with body checks has been making a resurgence in recent years. Teams score points when a player known as a “jammer” gets through the pack of both teams’ skaters -- each time a jammer passes one of the opposing team’s blockers, the jammer’s squad scores a point. Blockers, naturally, are out to keep jammers from passing them, knocking them down or otherwise obstructing them. It’s a smash-mouth sport -- perfect for Pittsburgh -- in which injuries are worn like badges of honor. “We’ve had two broken ankles this year, a couple broken ribs, a couple concussions,” says Head Trauma, who with her two sisters co-founded the Minnesota RollerGirls, a St. Paul-based league. “Lots of bruises, everyone loves their bruises. They’re always showing them off.” Gone are co-ed leagues in favor of all-girl squads, tough ladies who can take a hit. Leagues around the country are owned and operated by the women who skate in them. “I think people would rather see girls skating around in short skirts hitting each other,” says Trauma. And the hits, of course, are an integral part of the whole spectacle. “You have to be able to skate and take a hit,” says Trauma. “Skating and taking a hit on skates are two different things.” Trauma, 28, says that after having played hockey in college, she craved physical activity with a social aspect. She says she read about derby in Jane magazine in 2001 and thought it would fit the bill nicely. After pitching the idea to her sisters, the bruiser siblings set about recruiting interested women, and in August 2004, the league began. Getting the league -- four teams, 70 women and about 2,000 regular spectators -- off the ground was at least as tough as taking a body check. Trauma devoted upward of 60 hours a week to it at first, networking with other leagues across the country. “The biggest thing was finding girls that were actually interested,” Trauma says. “It takes a certain naiveté. If I knew what I was in for, I might have thought longer about it!” The season runs from September through April, with bouts once a month. Tickets run about $10, but for an extra $2 you can sit right on the track. “Those are always sold out,” Trauma says. “You are probably going to get a girl in your lap.” Locally, reaction to the roller-derby concept is muted. “It definitely looks interesting,” says Becky Reitmeyer, director of the PUMP Sports League. She says she’s yet to hear of any interest in getting a derby league up and running in the Steel City, but that it could work. Recently, dodgeball was added to the league’s offerings. It ran a trial season of four weeks to gauge interest, and them moved to a standard nine-week season. That, Reitmeyer says, would be the most likely way to try out derby. “The presentation, the WWE-type flair, glitz, glory and spectacle -- if it’s new and fun and entertaining, why not Pittsburgh?” says Dave Hanson -- yes, that Dave Hanson, one of the Hanson Brothers from the 1977 hockey movie Slap Shot, filmed in Johnstown. “I remember growing up it was something I looked forward to watching on Saturday mornings. I thoroughly enjoyed it,” recalls Hanson, who is currently the general manager at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center on Neville Island. “I found it like a mix of wrestling and hockey.” He says that a league would need a track with arena seating for spectators. “We here at the Island Sports Center are always looking for new ways to entertain,” he says. “As long as it’s fun and healthy family entertainment, why not?” Links * skate parks category:Planks_from_elsewhere